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Japan Launches Rocket Successfully

Updated Feb. 4, 2002 12:08 a.m. ET

Japan's H-2A rocket blasted off in its final test launch Monday, carrying a payload of two probes and clearing the way for a series of operational launches through 2005. The black and orange unmanned craft -- Japan's biggest to date -- jumped off the pad with a thunderous boom heard kilometers away and quickly peeled into the sky on a billowing column of white smoke. High winds and poor visibility had forced Japan's space agency to postpone the launch from Sunday. But conditions were near perfect Monday, and the launch went largely according to plan, despite a slight delay because a boat had entered a restricted area...